Why is the updated SAT better for students?
Certification: Test Prep SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test
SAT is a college admission test which is designed in a manner that all the questions, conditions for tackling, the interpretation and procedure of scoring are purely uniform. One of the things that put any student under duress stress to outperform, frustration and a lot of tension is just the idea of sitting for an examination and SAT is one of the examinations that must be undertaken by a scholar in this century. SAT was introduced in the 20th century during the error of the First World War and was used as leverage to the immigrants to test on their social roles and to find the extent of their social power and status. In the institutions SAT was first introduced by professor Lindquist. Through the years and centuries SAT has undergone different changes including its name from Scholastic Aptitude Test to simply SAT and has also managed to undergo some satisfying upgrading whereby in this generation SAT is used as a means of determining a student’s intelligence.
The updates that have been made in the SAT will be more useful, focused, open and clear when the scholars deal with it and as result more students will have the urge of sitting for the SAT.Though the updated SAT system has not yet been put to practice and will be effective in the year 2016, one has to be sure that it has become more favorable and worth sitting for the exams because of the benefits that it has also come along with. To be able to perfectly understand what the updated SAT version is all about one has to first have a clue on what the current SAT is all about.
The current SAT
The current version of the SAT was first introduced in the year 2005. The examinee is to sit for the examination for a period of three hours and forty five minutes. Under this exam system the possible score ranges from 600-2400 with each section carrying a possible 800 points. The sections that are tested include Mathematics, critical reading and essay writing both of these are a must where some sections are of multiple choices while others are task based where; the examinee has to put in more effort since the answers wholly depend on the knowledge acquired from the tutorial sessions. In Mathematics the topics that are tested include; Numbers, Algebra, Statistics, Probability data analysis, Geometry among others, and one important fact is that the use of calculators is allowed throughout the mathematics exam session, in critical reading there is; vocabulary, sentence level reading and critical reading and lastly in essay reading the examinee is tested on grammar, usage of words and diction. SAT is offered eight times annually whose eligibility is that it’s always intended for high school students and is purely paper-based.
The updated SAT
The updated SAT which will be effective as from the year 2016 is considered to be more flexible when it comes to examination setting technique and the manner in which the questions are to be tackled by the examinee. First of all, the duration of sitting for the paper has changed to three hours and fifty minutes for the optional essay writing. The sections that are being tested are still three; mathematics skills, test reading and essay writing though, the essay writing section has been categorized as an optional paper. With this in place the score board has gone down to 1600 scale from the 2400 that is used in the current SAT and a separate score for the optional essay writing. In addition to this another update is that there is no penalty for wrong answers unlike initially where the examinee is deducted some marks. Another major change is that in the mathematics exam, there will be limitation in the use of calculator and also only the most important topics will be tested those that base on worthy challenges and not just artificial obstacles and will also be important to the examinee afterwards. The use of obscure vocabulary like perfidious, sagacity and many other complex words have been done away with and there has been introduction of simpler words that relate directly to their immediate environment. Updated SAT includes passage from founding documentation which is an added advantage to the students. There has also been the introduction of the computer based examination hence the examinee has an option of choosing what to take.
Benefits of the updated SAT to the students
The updated SAT has brought about lots of benefits and as a result far much better to the students who opt to sit for the test. The introduction the optional essay paper which has a separate score which is now used as a means of measuring a student’s ability to analyze and explain how a certain event came about will give them a chance to improve the quality and accuracy of writing instead of coherence. The use of calculators only in some of the portions of calculation will be a means of leverage to the student since they will be able to gauge their own level of understanding in some critical areas there will also be an improved metric for students’ success. The non penalty clause will give the students the urge to sit for the examination ant as result the number of students sitting will increase and merge with the ACT number. The introduction of free test preparation materials will enable the less fortunate students to have an opportunity to perform well as compared to previously since the test preparation materials could only afforded by few students since are very expensive. In addition to this, the eligible students get a fee waiver to apply for college and this is better because it also benefits the low income students.
